Trylove

Content warning: Pubes. So much of Béla Tarr’s DAMNATION punishes. It tries to convince its characters (a crushed singer, her husband, her drug-running boyfriend, the hellish bartender at the point of their intersection) that words aren’t worth speaking, that any distance is too far to cross, and that what change you do make to the world will be undone by someone close to you. But in between parti...

Featuring special guest and Trylon volunteer Ben Savard ( https://twitter.com/itbenjaminscott)! A crime thriller with shades of coming-of-age set in New York City on the cusp of the AIDS crisis, CRUISING’s depiction of S&M was rightly met by the skepticism and distrust of the gay community during its production and release. In retrospect, it advocates for the recognition of both the S&M an...

If you squint, there’s something behind the curtain of Terry Gilliam’s TIME BANDITS (1981) – but you really gotta squint tight. Seth Zarate joins again to help us take a closer look at what it’s saying about curiosity, how long is too long for a bit, and the lessons of history. 1:03:41 - Cody’s Noteys (Timelove) Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at trylovepodc...

Wong Kar-wai reconciles with his own masterpiece in 2046, a reflection on the characters, places, and relationships he displayed over a decades-long career. Chow, the writer protagonist of IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (2000), takes up the playboy lifestyle after his near-affair with Su Li-zhen and moves into a new apartment, where he begins weaving his real-life interactions with his fellow tenants into h...

CW: Discussions of sex work and abuse. In Wong Kar-wai’s short film THE HAND, released recently for the first time in its extended cut, a touch lasts forever. While it’s a compressed version of the director’s style, THE HAND is still a classic tragedy of love and loss across class divisions, exploring the hand – and a person’s entire being – as a tool for connection. At just 59 minutes, THE HAND i...

Wong Kar-wai’s masterpiece IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE is an unimpeachable culmination of his best filmmaking tendencies, honed to a devastating sheen. In this story of two reticent would-be lovers bonding over the infidelity of their spouses, to be “in the mood for love” means to recognize who you are when you love, the roles and identities that come with loving outside yourself, and the ablution of sel...

CW: Depictions of sex work. The Wong Kar-watch continues with HAPPY TOGETHER, a searing portrait of love in places of unbelonging (and Wong’s only Cannes winner to date). We’re joined by returning guest Jenny Ackerson and writer Aegor Ray for our discussion, which delves into ill-fated relationship of Fai and Po-wing, two Hong Kong ex-lovers stuck in Buenos Aires, as well as Wong’s portrayal of un...

CW: Depictions of mental illness. Just a year after CHUNGKING EXPRESS (1994), Wong Kar-wai found out he couldn’t stay away from that story – so he found another, more perverse way to tell a tale of Chungking Mansions and the Midnight Express in FALLEN ANGELS. More explicitly profane than the Wong films we’ve covered so far, it still retains his signature yearning, longing, and lusting – but this t...

Wong Kar-wai’s “inverse stories” structure really hits its stride in CHUNGKING EXPRESS, illustrating love as fleeting, important, slow, and instantaneous with the not-quite-parallel stories of the blonde, the cop, the MPDG, and… the cop. Jenny is back to help us discuss one of Wong’s better-known films (and one of her favorites), which she says uses a “call and response” style and characters that...

From the opening shots of Wong Kar-wai’s DAYS OF BEING WILD (1990), it’s clear that the real world is less important than making its characters – and its audience – feel. Harry calls it “almost Lynchian," using vague timelines and liminal spaces to foreground moment-to-moment emotion rather than adhere to a prescriptive structure. Without a single clear perspective or identity, it’s communicating...

Are you making choices for now or for the future? AS TEARS GO BY, the debut film by acclaimed Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai, occasionally feels like a sketch of the oeuvre to come – but in its strongest moments, it’s an essential part of his filmography. Returning guest and Wong Kar Wai stan Jenny Ackerson helps us pick apart the film’s use of visual form, tragedy, and hubris as they would come...

We actually did it. For our 100th episode, we’re very lucky to be joined by six close friends and returning guests for a dramatic table read of the script of A GOOFY MOVIE (1995) written by Jymn Magon, Chris Matheson, and Brian Pimental. Thanks to Jenny Ackerson, Eric Leith, Charlie Mackin, Kyle Olson, Matt Yost, and Seth Zarate! Also, Aaron got Jim Cummings (Pete) and Rob Paulsen (P.J.) to wish u...

This is it. The definitive ranking of all things Trylon, all things 2020. Join us as we throw down to pare down another year of movies, podcasting, and noteys. It all ends here. 20:51 - Best “Trylove in the Time of Corona” Episode 34:30 - Trylon Event We’re Saddest About Missing 45:13 - Best Trylon Dry Run 1:04:18 - The Rashominies Award for the Movie Most Egregiously Longer Than RASHOMON (1950) 1...

CW: discussion of sexual assault as plot. As jidaigeki, samurai period pieces, Kurosawa’s films often level critiques against power structures by depicting their effects on laypeople. Kihachi Okamoto’s SWORD OF DOOM touches on those with a tale of violence set amid the resistance of the Meiji Restoration in 19th century Japan, using distinctly un-Kurosawa styles to heighten reality just ever so mu...

Not quite a feel-good Christmas film nor an acerbic character piece, REMEMBER THE NIGHT seems to forget what it wants to be after the first act. Mired in early WWII sentiments (and prejudice) about traditional values and self-sacrifice, it risks being scuttled by its uneven parts – but it’s spared the worst thanks to some dynamite performances from Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray. Follow us on...

Featuring special guests Jenny Ackerson and Griffin Fillipitch! Floriography holds that honeysuckle connotes everlasting devotion. How fitting, then, that Henry Neff never notices the honeysuckle (or love, or deception) until it’s too late. Actually, by the time anyone realizes what’s right in front of them in Billy Wilder’s seminal noir DOUBLE INDEMNITY, things are out of their hands. If only the...

Orson Welles called SORRY, WRONG NUMBER "the greatest single radio script ever written". It does not translate so well to film. But it IS really fun to examine with 72 years of perspective. How did the ways we communicate change when we brought telephones, formerly an element of commercial and industrial society, into our homes? What kinds of stories and performances were created when we chose to...

Featuring special guest Seth Zarate (@snzarate)! Our Friedkin series comes to a close with TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A., a cynical forebearer of the modern buddy cop movie – a slick, seething, uncompromising movie with something up its sleeve and a lot on its mind. Follow Seth on Twitter at https://twitter.com/snzarate and on Letterboxd at http://letterboxd.com/snzarate Follow us on Twitter at https://...

If THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971) is about the futility of the chase, SORCERER is about escapes as hollow as they are narrow. In this episode, we discuss the movie’s relationship to bootstraps capitalism, its contemporary reception, and how nobody really gets out alive. Then, we get a little genre-obsessed in another edition of Cody’s Noteys! Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/trylovepodcast and em...

THE FRENCH CONNECTION is known for one great chase scene, but it’s actually a constant pursuit of the self through grimy Brooklyn, breezy Marseilles, and the dark hearts of evil men. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: "Subway" by Don Ellis from THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971).

On this episode, we’re thrilled to welcome Sam Waymon, composer and actor in several Bill Gunn films and brother of soul legend Nina Simone, to talk about GANJA & HESS (1973), Sam’s film debut. We discuss Sam’s approach to creating music, writing for such a specific vision and his involvement in creating that vision, the renewed attention on Sam’s first movie, and the importance of preserving...

The titular invisible man might not be struggling with any deeper discomforts than the madness brought on by the drug that makes his skin disappear, but that might be traumatizing enough. It's definitely enough to whip the residents of Iping, Sussex, into a proper frenzy – along with, you've gotta imagine, moviegoers in 1933. While we find it hard to knock 90-year-old movies for not being very ins...

Experimental Black horror film GANJA & HESS is tough to pin down, despite a simple synopsis (doctor cursed to crave blood shares his curse with another before succumbing to it himself). It packages much of its text inside a fractured storytelling framework, which seems to have dominated its critical appraisal in the decades since its release. In this episode, we wrangle with that discourse and...

We’re in full goofball mode for BLACK MAGIC 2, a fun artifact of the changing world of Hong Kong cinema in the 1970s. With a “please ignore this” plot and gross-out moments to spare, you could call it a subversion of the soap opera dramas that dominated the 1940s and ‘50s… or you could call it a really silly, fun way to spend 90 minutes with friends. “Black Magic and Sleazy Spells: The Shaw Brothe...

Featuring returning guest Nick Ransbottom (twitter.com/theeziokenway)! A bit of a riff on THE SEVENTH SEAL (1957)’s dour upholding of Christian values, THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH is more about seeing how camp can drive a point home in a completely different way. In this episode, we chat about what it borrows from serious gothic horror including the Poe story of the same name, what’s lost and gain...